After 17 years, Debra Brown leaves prison to red carpet family reception

DRAPER — It rained long and hard the day Debra Brown walked out of prison after spending 17 years behind bars, but it didn't matter.

"I'm the luckiest person on earth right now," she said. "It's the most beautiful day to me I've ever seen."

From the time Brown stepped out into the wet afternoon Monday, there were spots of light. The sun shone through for a moment as she drove away from the Utah State Prison. There was a bouquet of bright yellow balloons. More than anything, though, there was the glow emanating from the woman finally allowed to hold her children in her arms, able to clutch her grandchildren to her chest.

"I almost don't feel worthy to be in her presence," Brown's son, Ryan Buttars said. "She's an angel to the world right now."

Saying "I don't think there's a word" to describe how she feels, Debra Brown walked out of prison a free woman exactly one week after a judge determined she was factually innocent of the murder that led to her incarceration. 

A makeshift red carpet — lined with Debra Brown's children and grandchildren and leading to a shiny new bicycle — awaited Brown as she stepped out of a black SUV to a roar of cheers.

She cried as she embraced her children and looked around exclaiming "Hi!" and "You came!" as she noticed every face. When she finally saw the bike she once dreamed of, she gasped and promptly honked the horn affixed to its handlebars. 

"We've seen a miracle and we're just excited and happy for her," brother David Scott said. "It's indescribable."

Scott said Monday was a "remarkable day" for Brown and her family. He said there's no real plan for what Brown will do next, though he said they've planned enough parties they could spend "50 years partying."

The joyous reunion came after 2nd District Judge Michael DiReda determined Brown — who has been imprisoned since 1995 when she was convicted of murder in connection with the 1993 shooting of Lael Brown, 72 — was innocent following an extensive hearing on evidence in the case. Her boss and friend was found dead in his home with three gunshot wounds to the head.

Monday afternoon, DiReda signed the order releasing Brown from the Utah State Prison and also signed an order to have Brown's conviction expunged from her record. In addition, he ordered the state to pay Brown $570,780 in financial assistance. The first payment was ordered to be $114,156.

Brown said Monday that it wasn't about the money, but her family. She said no amount of money can replace what she lost. 

"You don't get it back," she said. "There's been no way to get it back. But I have everything I need."

For a while Monday, those payments were on hold because the state filed notice that it intended to file an appeal to DiReda's ruling that found Brown factually innocent. "A formal notice of appeal should be filed within 30 days of the court's ruling," assistant attorney general Scott Reed announced in a prepared statement.

Yet nine hours later, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff sent a message over his Twitter feed that contradicted Reed. In response to a Twitter plea asking him not to appeal Brown's case, he wrote, "We won't appeal."

Later, Shurtleff released a statement explaining why he decided against appealing the judge's ruling.

“In the interest of justice and mercy the time has come to bring closure to Debra Brown and everyone involved in this case,” Shurtleff said. “She has served 17 years in prison and a judge has found her factually innocent. This was Utah’s first case like this and I am convinced these types of challenges will be rare. Our office will vigilantly fight to make sure the justice system punishes the guilty and protects the innocent.”